First and foremost I would like to explain that I was forced/coerced into accepting a plea bargain that has classified me as "Human Trafficker for financial benefit". I have mentioned around that I am a felon. This is my story of how my constitutional rights were violated. This is my side of the story and how I will forever be a less than human being in the eyes of society. I know many people constantly judge me due to this and I accept it, I do not try and hide it and now forever will be my side of the story in the steemit blockchain. To me at least my part of the truth will be out in public and not the fake news story that was pushed to the public when my friends and I were arrested.
How I came to work for an Escort Agency.
I lost my wife in 2001, about 4 months later I lost my job as an auto mechanic and also my apartment. My father in law was nice enough to house me so I could try and get back on my feet. I was constantly battling some of the worst depression in my life trying to keep on living for the sake of the Elizabeth's legacy of fighting for her life, instead of succumbing to the feelings that I would be better off joining her in the afterlife. For a few years afterwards I crashed on friends couches and worked odd jobs in roofing/home remodeling. Around 2004 or 2005 I moved into another friends house with his mother and her husband. This time I actually had a room to myself, the first time in a few years, all I had to do was help keep the house clean and hand dig 4 foot deep footings for a huge garage they were going to build. The husband did construction and I had gained some experience and was helping him for pocket money.
One day we were working for a contractor who was looking for someone skilled in computers. There is not much that I could not do on a computer so Adam introduced me to Mike. Mike explained that he and a couple of other guys had a local production company were they did photography, web design, video editing and such. He also explained how their last tech guy robbed them of a bunch of money and equipment. Adam vouched for me that I was a stand up, trustworthy guy, who had just fell on hard times. I agreed to meet Mike at the company.
A few days later Mike was showing me around the building, I admit I was impressed. They had about 5 areas of sets setup, each having its own set of lighting. There was a nice conference room with seating for 12, a larger waiting room with a few desks and such. Then he takes me to the computer room, what would be my office. When I walked in I had to contain my excitement. Hanging from the ceiling was a bank of 8 CRT monitors stacked 4 on 4, a huge wraparound desk, 10 or so computers, mixing boards, cameras. I felt like I was being presented with a hell of an opportunity. Mike went on to explain that I had to meet the rest of the owners and would be on a tryout period if I was interested. I agreed and the next day I would meet them.
The following day I met old man Bill. I was told he had a larger stake in the company than Mike, after talking with Bill he asked me to fix a couple of computers they had that were acting up. A couple hours later they were running fine and Bill was impressed. Throughout this time I was constantly being reminding of how they got previously screwed out of large chunks of money from the last tech guy. I assured them I was just interested at getting my life back in order after the passing of my wife. I was told then that there was one more owner I had to meet and to come back the next day.
I arrived to be greeted by Mike and Bill, was told to wait in the conference room for the last owner who would be there shortly. After ten minutes or so walks in a 26 year old black gentlemen in a fur coat and introduces himself "Mustafaa" he says, "Jason" I say and we sat down. Before I continue, I would like to clarify somethings; Mike was in his mid 50's, old man Bill his 70's. So when I met Mustafaa I was taken aback. It seemed a bit out of place. I was quickly to learn why.
Mustafaa went on to explain he held the most shares in the company, that in fact his other company funded most of the production company. He went on to explain to me what Detroit Pink was. It was in fact a registered escorting business. For those who do not know, escorting is when females are paid for their time and companionship. I was told how Bill was a retired lawyer and the business was run in the fullest extend of the law, however it was more of a 'gray' area of the law. Nearing the end of the conversation Mustafaa asks "You smoke weed?", a smile crosses my face "of course" I said. We both stand up shake hands and he says "Why don't we hang out and smoke down tonight, I am the real reason this place is here, those white boys don't really mean much". "Sure" I replied and we headed out.
After driving around getting to know each other a bit and picking up an ounce of weed and a handful of ecstasy pills we pull up to a hotel. In the room were a couple of females waiting and I was then introduced as the new "computer guy". In my mind I was like, sweet I guess I got the job. That sweet office was mine. Mustafaa asked if I played monopoly and if I liked Family Guy. "Hell yeah" I exclaimed. "You pop pills" he said. A smile from me and he looks at me, "I knew I liked you when I saw you". Mustafaa and I were the same age. We had grown up around the same parts of Detroit. Only a few miles apart. What followed that night was some of the most deep philosophical discussions I had had with another human being since loosing my wife. Her and I talked about everything on every level from the macrocosm to the micro. It was the same with Mustafaa his intelligence rivaled mine and that night we had become very good friends.
Why would you work for an Escort Agency?
My parents were good parents, they raised their children to have morals, to know right from wrong, to have manners and respect for others. When Elizabeth and I started dating she explained how she had lived in New York for a while had fallen into hard drugs and worked prostitution to support her and her boyfriends habit at the time. When I met her she was clean for some years and changed her life around. I never judged her for it. It was never my business, it was her past and that was that. So when I came into this situation my stance was a women have a right to choose. Not just about abortion but what she does with her body, period. If she wanted to sell her time for money or hell even her body, who the fuck was I to say otherwise. Imposing my beliefs or morals on someone else was not how I was raised. After all I was only going to be the tech guy, working on computers and designing websites. Surely nothing seemed immoral to me about that. These were just adult oriented websites with women in lingerie or even nude. We always took model release forms and picture ids for our records, posted the USC 18 law and legal disclaimers.
To me it was as legit as it could be. I never felt like anyone was being forced as the women came and left as they pleased some stayed till the end, others gained money and left. That was that. It was just people looking to gain easy money quickly.
The beginning of the end.
A few months after working for them; Mustafaa, Mike, and Bill had a falling out. The production company would be no more. It was a huge blow to us all. Our goal was really to start a webcam site similar to chatterbate or myfreecams. Without the building and equipment we were back to square one. Mustafaa said that we needed to change how things were because Mike and Bill had a stake in Detroit Pink as well. That he would need a new set of websites. Up until this point I had not made a dollar still, the production company never took off like they thought it would. I was more or less along for the ride. The place I was staying before got raided for selling weed out of their house and I was staying at the hotel with the group anyhow for fear of another raid. So I made an agreement with Mustafaa that I would give him his websites to be able to have a roof over my head and food. I never asked for cash.
If I never made money from it how did I get money? Well I had stumbled upon San Andreas Multiplayer a multiplayer mod for the GTA San Andreas game. It had a coding language built in and allowed people to create a game within a game (gamemodes). I had been teaching myself how to code for this game and was starting to create a pretty popular gamemode called Los Santos Apocalypse. It was a zombie gamemode and zombies were beginning to be all the rage. I literally spent day and night working and playing this game while living rent free for 5 or 6 years. My pocket money came from LSA and Infinite-Gaming the gaming community I had started.
Around the last year before everything had come to an end. Mustafaa had a good friend that had gotten involved with a 17 year old female that was wanted for bank robbery. He expressed his dismay for such an action and had cut ties with him. I remember the argument where it was said "This would be the end of us". His friend was indeed raided, the girl found and we learned that the F.B.I and Michigan State police were investigating us. Some females were also picked up and questioning ensued. All the while I just tried to keep out of what was going on working on my game, ignoring the inevitable.
It was a cold November day, I had awoken early. I was working on one of the largest patches for my game for about a week. We had no internet at the time and I was taking a cellphone to use free wifi. I was planning on going that morning to research something I needed to complete my patch. When I awoke and looked outside it had started to snow. I thought "ah screw it, I am going to bed". So I did.
I was awoken to the sound of someone hollering "Jason come downstairs". "Jason come downstairs" and then again. I was rubbing my eye's thinking to myself who's voice is that and why are they yelling. I then proceeded down the steps. Upon arriving to the ground floor I was facing a line of 5 or 6 F.B.I agents in full riot gear with shotguns pointed at me. I quickly turned around with my hands on my head. I was then restrained and forcibly placed into a squad car.
It was absolutely nerve racking. We were taken to the state police station and the first thing to happen was an F.B.I agent taking Polaroid pictures of us. Anyone who has been arrested knows that this is not how you are booked. In fact I later learned these were the picture given to the newspapers. Also when we were raiding the news trucks were on the scene already. I never seen them with everything going on. I found all this out much later on.
The rigged Justice System and how Fake News plays a role.
While being questioned we all learned that we were being accused of having an underage girl escorting. This was the biggest bold face lie, ever. We had kept records of every female posted online past and present and corresponding paper work to go along with it. However this was the story pushed to the papers and the news stations. The big prostitution ring brought down that had underage females. No, No, No! Every time I think about these accusations I get so pissed off. It was the absolute farthest from the truth. Yet when you don't have much of a reason to raid a place suspected of running a prostitution ring, what is the next best thing to getting a warrant for peoples arrests? You see in Michigan a female gets charged with a misdemeanor for prostitution. At best Mustafaa was Pimping and Pandering and you need solid evidence not circumstantial for a warrant. What judge would refuse when underage women are involved?
Unbeknownst to us we learned the investigation had gone on 2 years. The F.B.I had dropped the case against us for lack of solid evidence after all they wanted RICO charges. However Michigan had too much money invested into the investigation and in 2006 the State Attorney General had just passed new Human Trafficking laws just to come after Detroit Pink and other escorting agencies operating in the state. So we were to be known to the public as the big bad human traffickers of underage girls, WELL BEFORE WE WERE EVER CONVICTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes this is how justice works now, you are guilty before proven innocent. Your constitutional rights (privileges) stripped and your slandered in the media to persuade public opinion just in case you are smart enough to want a jury trial. The perception is already set in the public's eye. Your guilty that is that.
The Trial and Jail.
The trial was a mess, here in America your supposed to have the right to an expedient trial. They put 5 of us together in one trial to avoid this. Never did the 5 lawyers schedules coincide quickly enough for our pretrial. In fact it drag out to 6 months. All the while they left us with hundreds of thousands of dollar bonds so we could not be let out. Knowing we would sit in jail. We were in Oakland County Jail for all that time. O.C.J while I was there was completely over crowded. So much so, when the fire marshal would come for head count to make sure they were following fire code, they would hide prisoners. The food often times had rocks in it. People were catching MRSA bacteria infections. It was outrageous. I did met plenty of fine people who were in for longer times for simple crimes, some repeat offenders and such.
Finally coming near the 6 month mark, we were offered a plea bargain. A bargain it is not. In fact around 94 to 95% of convictions in America are plea bargains. When you leave people living in a jail under such conditions and then tell them you can have freedom just take this charge. They just want to get out, go home and live life. Most of the women involved jumped right away at the deal. I however was very leery, they wanted me to accept Human Trafficking for Financial Benefit. I exclaimed to my court appointed attorney "I got free room and board, made no money". Hardly this charge could not be just! They put me back into the holding cell of the court for about another hour or so, then take me out and put me into a room. The lawyer walks in with a law book. Shows me the very vaguely written law and says "Look your a smart guy, they will have you sit for a year and a half more before going to a jury trail". I later learned this was coercion. I read the law, asked him "So if I went to burger king and a prostitute buys me a meal while the cops are watching her, I committed this crime". He nods. Feeling so defeated and wanting to move on I accepted the charge.
Conclusion.
In total I got timed served 6 months for a human trafficker. No one ever got convicted of any underage anything. We never got our other constitutional right to face our accuser, this underage female. That was all hog wash just to get us taken down. So what does this have to do with #PizzaGate? Well as I have seen and read the research of others I see way more proof of actual evidence of possible Human Trafficking! It is an outrage to me. Someone wrongly accused to see high profile people continue the actual abuse of children and teens. After all we were just a bunch of 20 something year olds just trying to make an easy living. Fake news stories created to sway the public's opinion and now they even hide the truth. To me it is relevant.
I understand I am not innocent in the eye's of many others. Many people believe escorting or prostitution to be horrible, that all the women have mental problems. They are abused and constantly mistreated. In my experience this is not the case every women was free to go at any time. I met some very strong women with good heads on their shoulders. They were all my friends. We took care of each other, looked out for each other. Now the lot of us are Human Traffickers while the real criminals roam free.
Welcome to America!
P.S.
I know many people here might think I am full of it, that is fine. Everyone is free to think what they will. No one is forced to accept what I say, ever. If your wondering if my life has improved since all this. Sorry I wish I could say it did. One hardship after the next. I could with around $5k to $10k worth and seven years time try to get this felony removed but alas I don't have money like that. In fact I have none. I am still trading work for room and board, this time for a construction company. It sucks, but its my doing. I am forever blacklisted from getting a regular job due to background checks. Such is a life as this and I accept it, what else can I do?
Proof:
The news story, I am the computer guy. Jason Sherrill.
News stories
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/11/30/ag-busts-detroit-pink-prostitution-ring/
http://www.candgnews.com/news/bonds-decreased-five-charged-human-trafficking-prostitution
Official government statements....
Before convictions:http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-164-46849_47203-266408--,00.html
After convictions: http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-164-46849_47203-312386--,00.html
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